


Busman's Holiday

by Disasteriffic_Kaz



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Case Fic, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-16
Updated: 2014-04-16
Packaged: 2018-01-19 16:11:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1475935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Disasteriffic_Kaz/pseuds/Disasteriffic_Kaz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tag to 7x01 – AU a little crossover interlude of this show I adore with the show I have loved since I was 6. Supernatural meets Doctor Who. Takes place between Death leaving the boys at the house and the next morning at Bobby's and anime porn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Do please Review once you've read. :D Every comment and vote of support helps keep me writing. Not to mention if I've pooched anything, someone can always tell me. :P**

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_**CHAPTER 1** _

"What do you think he meant?" Dean asked softly.

"Huh?" Sam glanced over at him then back out the window. "Who?"

"Death, dumbass." Dean rolled his eyes. What he actually wanted to talk about was the fact that it had taken a damn Horseman to tell Dean his brother was keeping crap from him again, but since there was no way that was ending well in the car, he settled on something less potentially explosive. "Death said maybe he should spend his effort on a better planet. You think he meant it?"

Sam struggled to make his fracturing mind pay attention, to focus. "Meant what? I'm not following."

"Another planet dude! Like, the way he said it, you suppose there really is, you know, life out there somewhere? Gray, big eyed, probes in uncomfortable places life?"

Sam snorted a laugh, finally seeing where Dean was going. "Universe is a big place. The law of probabilities says there absolutely has to be other life out there somewhere." _Plenty of life right here Sammy._ The voice slithered into Sam's head and he squeezed his eyes shut, facing out the window so Dean wouldn't see. He missed the Impala. He missed the comfort of her interior, the smell of her seats. The beater they were driving until Dean could piece her back together just didn't comfort him like she did…and did nothing to keep that voice from his mind.

"You're such a geek." Dean muttered with a sidelong glance at the back of Sam's shaggy head. He was studiously staring out the passenger window and he wondered what exactly was going through his head just then. A loud bang, like something breaking the sound barrier drew Dean's eyes back to the road.

"CRAP!" Dean shouted and swerved the car to the side and off the road into the ditch as something large and blue spun across the road, nearly taking out the front end of the car. "What the hell was that?"

"Looked like…"Sam's voice trailed as he stared into the trees where the object had crashed through.

"Like what?" Dean asked, cutting the engine and checking himself for injuries.

Sam shook his head, afraid to answer because he was sure it had to be another hallucination. He rubbed at the spot on his forehead where he'd cracked into the window. "I dunno."

"Well let's go find out." Dean pulled himself out of the car and stepped into the cold water at the bottom of the ditch. "Awesome." He groaned, shaking out his boot and climbed up to the trunk. "Come on, Sasquatch!" Sam got out and leaned back for a moment, letting his head stop spinning. "Hey, you good?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm ok." Sam gave him a smile and clambered up the short incline to meet him. Dean handed him a shotgun and took one for himself, adding a flask of holy water to his pocket and checked his favorite Desert Eagle was where it belonged at his back.

"Ok, let's go see what the hell almost hit us." Dean shut the trunk and switched on his mag-lite, leading the way through the ditch and up to the now gaping hole in the tree line.

Something large had crashed through and gone deeper into the woods. Of course it was a lonely road so anything bad happened and they were on their own. They stepped silently through the woods, each staying to the side of the wide swath of flattened trees. Ahead of them they could hear an odd grinding sound and something deeper, like the gonging of some distant bell. They stepped past a line of crushed bushes and both stopped, staring.

"Is that…" Dean blinked hard, trying to make sense of it.

"A police box." Sam said softly, relieved to know it hadn't just been in his head. "It's a freakin police box!"

"Ok. This is a new one." Dean moved closer, shotgun raised and trained. It was a large, deep blue box inexplicably sitting in the middle of the woods and pouring smoke from various places. The light on top was dark and the windows were lit by something inside.

Sam eased up to his brother's side, eyes wide. "How…it flew across the road. What the hell's going on?"

Dean shook his head and backed up a step when the door suddenly opened. More smoke wafted out through the now open door, lit with a warm orange glow. "Heads up, Sam." Dean warned and took a step closer just as a tall, gangly and odd looking man stumbled out into the cool night air, coughing lustily.

The man waved his arms wildly in the door, trying to vacate the smoke and shouted back in a rich, British accent. "You couldn't have given me a warning?" He coughed some more and kicked the base of the police box. "Honestly!" He turned around and stopped, eyes widening. "Oh! Um…hello?" He wore a ridiculous tweed suit topped with a bright red bowtie and suspenders, his unruly dark brown hair fell over his eyes and for a moment reminded Dean of his brother. "I come in peace!" The man paused. "Well I think I do. I probably do but then you never can tell. Who are you? No, wait, where am I?"

Dean shook his head at the strange man, looking over to see his brother wide eyed and, he thought, a little amused. "Where the hell did you come from?" Dean asked, his low, gravelly voice carrying over the distressed sounds issuing from the box.

"Gallifrey." The man answered easily. "Or do you mean just now? The Barren Cascade of Androzani Major which isn't actually barren at all. Quite lovely in fact. There's this little hot spring just outside the Chapel of the Depleted Cell where the water bubbles like…"

"Dude. What?" Dean lowered his gun a little, not sensing any danger from him. "You're not making any sense. Who are you?"

"Oh! Right! Introductions." He straightened his bowtie and ran a hand through his hair that did nothing to calm the crazy spikes and stepped forward. "I'm the Doctor! Or, the caretaker most recently and you have guns."

Sam snorted. His instincts were telling him this Doctor posed no threat to them and he wondered if maybe the guy weren't just a little around the bend himself. Sam glanced at his brother, trusting him to have his back and lowered his shotgun. "I'm Sam. This is my brother, Dean."

The Doctor took a step toward the young man, noting how the older brothers'…and he was sure he was the older brother, how his gun instantly came back up protectively. "Pleasure to meet you, Sam." The Doctor focused on the boys blue-green eyes and saw quite a bit more than he was expecting stir in their depths. He gave his brother a similar study and saw the same. "Dean, you know you really don't need to point that at me and for the record, I react badly to guns."

"Most things do." Dean smiled. "That usually works for us." Dean nodded at the police box. "So how about you tell us what the hell that is, what you're doing here and what you are cause you aint human pal." Dean was as sure of that as he'd ever been of anything. This guy, goofy and British and eccentric just hit his Hunter radar wrong.

The Doctor raised a brow at him and grinned. "Perceptive Humans!" He exclaimed and clapped his hands. "Now there's something I don't meet every day." The Doctor strode back to the box, looking hastily inside and turned back. "This is my TARDIS. I'm just passing through really. Bit of trouble with the dimensional stabilizers." He sauntered back toward the boys. "Shouldn't even be here of course. Whole different dimension and really that's not even supposed to happen anymore but there was a black hole and a collapsing star and I really wasn't doing anything and figured I'd get a closer look and one thing led to another and I cracked right through the dimensional walls…"

Dean listened to the insane drabble for another minute before rolling his eyes. This guy was worse than his little brother in college geek mode. "Hey!" Dean yelled, breaking into the monologue. The Doctor stopped with a startled wave of his arms and stared at him. "What the hell are you doing here?" He tried again.

The Doctor leaned back against his TARDIS and watched the man carefully, seeing the danger in the sparkling green eyes and smiled. "You wanted to know if there was other life out there." He said then, softly and nodded up at the night sky, smiling more widely when Dean's jaw fell open along with his brothers. "I wasn't going to…drop by but something told me you needed to find some hope, somewhere." He'd felt the pain from these men even across the dimensional vortex and it had pulled at him. He felt something of a kindred spirit in them, in whatever long road of hell these men had survived and he knew they had.

"How…how do you know what I said?" Dean glared at him, done being friendly. "If you haven't figured it out yet, genius, we're Hunters. You wanna stop screwing with us. What are you? Demon? Angel? Djinn?"

"Demon? Really?" The Doctor looked down at himself with wide eyes and back up, surprised.

"Christo." Sam said suddenly but the Doctor didn't even flinch, just looked at him strangely and smiled again.

"Ok. Not a Demon." Dean growled and took a menacing step forward. "What. Are. You?"

"None of the above!" The Doctor said cheerfully. "Time Lord." He pointed at himself and raised his brows, waiting. "No? Well that makes things more difficult." A series of odd noises came from the police box and the Doctor glanced at it in irritation. "Normally I'd take you for a little joyride to the moon and back to show you but she's still got some work to do. Breaking through wasn't exactly easy." He chuckled. "Impossible actually, but that's something I excel at. The impossible."

"Ok I'm just gonna shoot him." Dean said with an irritated smile at his brother. "Can I do that?"

"No." Sam smirked. He stepped closer to the strange police box, looking to the Doctor for permission. He nodded happily and waved an arm. Sam shrugged back at Dean, trusting him to have his back and stepped to the door, peeking inside. "Holy…crap." His brain didn't want to reconcile what his eyes were seeing. He stepped back, taking a long look at the outside, an ordinary blue police box, and then stuck his head in the door again.

"Sam? What is it?" Dean kept his weapon trained on the weirdo, eyes on his brother. "Talk to me little brother."

"I…" Sam stopped, still not believing his own eyes and frankly, concerned his hallucinations were reaching a whole new level. "Um, you better come look." Sam stepped back and at a nod from Dean, raised his shotgun reluctantly. He still didn't think this Doctor was a threat and didn't like pointing the gun at him but his brother's safety came first. Dean stalked past him and stuck his head inside as Sam had done and then backed up a step in astonishment.

"No way in hell." Dean reached out and banged his knuckles on the wooden exterior. "You see that?"

"It's bigger on the inside?" Sam asked and heaved a sigh of relief when Dean nodded. It wasn't his head playing tricks.

Dean shook his head in disbelief and strode around the box, knocking his fist against it, assuring himself it was solid before reaching the front and looking inside again. It was enormous. Somehow, crammed into the narrow exterior was a whole, massive room that frankly looked out of this world. "Alright. What the hell's goin' on?"

"It's my…ship." The Doctor said with a smile and tempted fate, patting a hand awkwardly on Dean's shoulder. When he didn't receive a blast to the face, he smiled more widely. "Travels in space." He paused for effect. "And time!"

"Been there. Done that." Sam said with an eye roll.

"Got the damn T-shirt." Dean finished and looked at the Doctor's flabbergasted face with amusement. "What else you got, Doc?"

"You know, usually people are astonished or at least have the grace to pretend." The Doctor said in a huff, not at all pleased with the lack of shock on the men's faces. He'd just have to try harder. "Fine. In you go then." He waved at them. "She should have herself together enough for a little hop. Go on!"

"In there?" Dean raised his brows at the man. "Riiiight."

"You're quite possibly the two most least trusting humans I have ever met in any of my lives." The Doctor threw his hands up in the air and glared at them. "Someone offers you a ride in a dimensionally transcendental time travelling spaceship you say yes! It's not like that offer comes along ever millennium you know."

"Dean." Sam put a hand on his brother's arm and let him see the curiosity that was gnawing at him. "We're armed. He's not and we're not exactly push overs in any time."

Dean rolled his eyes. His geek brother had come out to play and had pulled out the dreaded puppy dog eyes while he was at it. "Dude, if we end up naked in a field later I'm kickin' your ass." He turned to the Doctor and lowered his shotgun at last, resigned. "Alright, but anything hinkey happens and I promise you aint gonna like what happens next."

"Hinkey?" The Doctor looked at him and chuckled. "I'm going to remember that one. In you go, boys." In a thousand years he'd never had this much trouble getting anyone into his TARDIS. This had been worth the little dimensional crack he'd have to seal up later and the not so flattering landing. "Let's see what trouble we can get in to hmm?"

Dean stepped ahead of Sam and walked in first, eyes going wide as he went further in. It was bigger than he'd initially thought and the ceiling was vaulted high overhead. He moved his shotgun as the Doctor came in behind, closing the doors and all but danced ahead of him up a set of glass stairs to a massive…well he didn't know what the hell it was but it was huge and round and covered in dials and switches. Sam came up beside him and stared around, mouth open in a silent 'oh'.

"Dude, your geek is showing." Dean said, deadpan and swallowed a laugh when Sam looked down to his fly before glaring back up at him.

"You're such a jerk." He said softly and smirked, following the Doctor up to what he was sure was some sort of control console. "This is…amazing." Sam managed, smiling at the Doctor who grinned cheerfully back at him.

The younger brother at least still had some imagination, the Doctor thought to himself. "Now, where shall we go?" He moved quickly about his console, pulling knobs and levers, setting coordinates, unsetting them all in a whirlwind of activity that left both men watching him with amusement and awe respectively. "Oh let's just see where she wants to go."

"She?" Sam ran a finger along the edge of the console, staring into the column.

"The TARDIS of course. " The Doctor gestured generally around them. "Has her own mind sometimes about where she thinks I need to be." He directed a glare at the rotor column. "Which is rarely where I actually tell her to go."

"Wait." Dean stepped up with them finally and looked about. "This thing, your ship, it's alive?" Dean regarded the interior and the Doctor with slightly more understanding. The way the strange man spoke to and caressed the console distinctly reminded him of his own affection for the Impala. In his mind, that meant the guy couldn't be all bad.

"In her own way, yes." The Doctor nodded and patted the column affectionately. He then gave a kindlier look to Dean, seeing a certain understanding in the man's eyes. "Might want to hang on to something." The Doctor warned them and flung the last few switches, sending the Time Rotor into motion. He grinned up at the oh so comforting wheezing, growling sound as the TARDIS went into action.

Dean grinned as well and chuckled. "Sounds like mah baby." He commented and ignored the roll of his brother's eyes. "So, she's like the classic muscle car of spaceships huh?"

"Ah hah!" The Doctor strode over and thumped him good naturedly in the shoulder. "A kindred spirit! I knew it! What's yours?"

"Sleek, black beauty '67 Chevy Impala." Dean said proudly with a disturbing level of fondness in his voice, Sam thought and laughed. The Doctor nodded.

"That is indeed a beauty of a vehicle!" The Doctor stepped back to the console, looking at the screen, trying to divine where they were going and then shrugged, turning back. "Tell me, do they ever tease you about taking proper care of her?"

Dean threw his head back and laughed. Sam joined in and set his shotgun in a chair at the top of the stairs. "He fondles the car." Sam said, shaking his head. "And he talks to it."

"You see if I let you back in her when we get home, Sammy." Dean threatened as the Doctor chuckled.

"You'll have to show her to me when I take you back." He said and then clapped his hands together as the Time Rotor stopped moving with a loud, growling thump. "We're here!"

"Where?" Dean and Sam asked together.

The Doctor pulled the screen back around to him and raised his brows. It was his first time in this particular universe and he'd only had the briefest time to familiarize himself with it and its idiosyncrasies. The concrete existence of angels and demons and the whole pantheon of supernatural goodies that were mere myth in his universe were real here, much to his surprise. The planet the TARDIS had chosen gave him pause.

"Well?" Sam asked and craned his head to see the screen but could make nothing from it. "Where've we ended up? Hope it's not Jersey."

"Man anywhere but Jersey." Dean agreed with a grimace.

"No, no. Not New Jersey." The Doctor smiled and pushed the screen away. "It's a world called Lycanos."

Dean's brows drew together. "Well that word sounds eerily familiar." He glanced at Sam who nodded. "You trying to get us eaten the first time out?"

"Oh it should be fine." The Doctor said airily and headed for the doors. "These aren't the sorts of Were-whatevers you're used to." He opened the door and waited for them. "I don't think."

"Well that's reassuring." Dean hefted his shotgun and stuck a hand in his pocket, feeling a dozen or so rounds of rock salt. What disturbed him was neither he nor Sam were carrying silver rounds. All they had were the silver blades they kept in their boots.

"We're not exactly prepared for this." Sam said cautiously. "I mean, a planet of Werewolves?"

"Don't worry, boys." The Doctor smiled reassuringly. "I promise to get you both home the same way you came in. Human."

"First sign of trouble, we shag ass back here." Dean told Sam and nodded to his shotgun, waiting for him to pick it up. "Give them a blast. Wont kill 'em but it should knock 'em down long enough to get a head start." Sam nodded and they joined the Doctor at the door.

"You know, you two sound an awful lot like warriors." The Doctor observed. "Normally I'd tell you to leave the guns behind but, as we're in your universe, your rules apply I think."

"Good choice." Dean smiled. "Cause trust me the guns were not staying." He stepped through the door outside.

Sam followed, trying to push down the nerves at a planet full of bloodthirsty killers. _Sammy, they're going to eat you for lunch you know._ He shook his head as he passed the Doctor, willing the voice to silence and didn't see the concerned look the Doctor sent after him before following the Winchesters out.

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_To Be Continued..._


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

"Wow." Sam breathed. "Okay…we're…we're on another planet, right?" He looked to Dean and the Doctor before staring back out over the lush, forested vista before them with a single spire reaching out from the canopy to the crystal blue sky. "Dean?"

"Yeah, Sammy." Dean dragged his gaze away from the impossibility and gave his brother a smile. "We're really here." He could see the unasked question in Sam's eyes; 'am I hallucinating this?' and he supposed for someone whose melon was so recently cracked, this had to be a little tough to accept.

"What is that?" Sam pointed to the spire. It rose gleaming out of the tree tops as though it were made of highly polished metal.

"I have absolutely no idea." The Doctor grinned up at him. "Let's go find out." He strode off down the hill and left them to follow him.

"How you doin', Sam?" Dean asked as they followed.

"Good. I'm good." Sam gave him a smile and stepped ahead of him to keep him from asking any further questions. He didn't want Dean to know how much trouble he was having or just how hard it was starting to become to tell reality from the nightmare in his head. Dean already had the weight of the world, literally, on his shoulders and with Castiel's betrayal, Sam wasn't sure Dean had much left before he'd just crack.

The sun had warmed their backs as they'd made their way down the hill. Beneath the forest canopy it was much cooler and the boys were glad of their jackets as a cool breeze blew into them. It even smelled different, the air, Dean thought. It just didn't smell right. It wasn't earth and there were no birds to sound. That alone made him nervous and clutch the shotgun more securely. Every instinct he had told him that when the forest went quiet, it was time to cowboy up because the big bad was coming for you.

The Doctor however strolled easily along, surveying everything around them with a practiced eye as they made their way toward the tower. There was life in the woods, he could sense it. Life teemed around them thought it was silent. He felt the echo of it in his bones and though he was sure a good portion of the things living in the forest would enjoy them for lunch, he didn't feel any particular malice. Perhaps he would get lucky and for once the TARDIS hadn't dropped him into the middle of some crisis only he could solve.

Sam walked easily along beside his brother, watching the Doctor's back ahead of them and sincerely hoped that whatever they were going to find on this strange planet wouldn't try to eat them or have delusions of planetary destruction. Frankly, they already had more than enough of those problems in their lives and, unless everything went perfectly in the next day, more waiting for them.

"Oh that is impressive." The Doctor said happily as he stepped through a screen of trees and looked up, and up. The tower waited before them, vanishing into the trees above. It was incredibly wide and was indeed constructed of gleaming metal of some sort. Terallinium the Doctor thought; a sort of living metal. Two beasts stood outside a set of wide double doors across from them and he felt his companions tense beside him, guns rising. "Don't be combative." The Doctor warned them. "Let's try for friendly first, shall we?"

The Doctor straightened his bowtie and walked purposefully toward the tower and the two very tall, very furry beings waiting outside its doors. "Hello! I'm the Doctor."

One was most certainly some family of Wolf. He reminded Sam forcibly of a Siberian Husky. He was all grey and white, tall with a bushy tail and two cerulean blue eyes looked down at them with what looked like disdain. He preferred that over the bloodlust and madness he was used to seeing in a Werewolf's eyes. The other was feline, Leopard he thought. He too was tall and regal looking with a gracefully long tail that lashed out and wrapped around his own leg, gold eyes peering down at them curiously.

"You approach the Tower of Gleddon." The Wereleopard said in a growling, clear voice and startled the boys. They hadn't been expecting it to be able to speak. "What is your business here?"

"Oh, just visiting." The Doctor stepped up between them and smiled genially. "Having a look about your lovely planet. We were hoping for a look inside the…Tower of Gleddon you said?"

"The Tower is a sacred place." The Wolf growled. "The gods walk its halls and those that step within do so at their own risk." He grinned a mouth full of sharp teeth and reached a clawed hand out to the door, pulling one leaf open. "By all means, explore."

Dean scowled at the beast. Every instinct in him was itching to pick a fight but the Doctor turned, as if sensing it and gave him a warning look. He lowered the shotgun slowly and nodded.

The Doctor tilted his head, looking up at the Wolf. "I get the impression you're hoping we go in and don't come back out." He looked over at the Leopard. "Sound about right?"

The Wereleopard showed his fangs in a sort of smile and nodded. "Bask does not like strangers so he would not tell you to tread with respect, nor that bringing a weapon into the tower is a death sentence." He nodded to Sam and Dean. "These would never return for they are too well armed."

"What? One gun?" Dean smiled and the Leopard let out a surprisingly musical laugh.

"One. And the gun at your back, the knife in your right boot that weighs your foot heavy when you walk." He grinned his toothy grin again. "You walk lightly for an ape but not lightly enough."

Sam snorted beside him, glancing over but wisely said nothing while Dean chewed his bottom lip.

"Ah good, well we're all friends then." The Doctor turned to the boys. "What do you say? Can you leave the arsenal behind for a peek inside?"

Dean's instinct was to give a resounding 'HELL no' and stalk back to the TARDIS but one look at his brother's face and he knew he was going to do it. Of course, it wasn't all for Sam. He wanted to see inside the damn thing too. Gods didn't scare him. Not anymore. He shrugged finally and set his rifle on the ground. He pulled the Desert Eagle from his back and set that beside it, following it with the silver knife in his boot. He saw Sam doing the same. He stood, glancing up to see a knowing grin the Leopard's face and sighed. No use tempting fate he thought and reached to his back again coming out with his bowie knife and laid that down in the pile. He stepped back and saw a small measure of respect in the Wolf's eyes this time.

"Impressive for an ape." The Wolf, Bask told him. "I would have liked to listen to you try to fight your way out."

"I bet you would have." Dean said with a toothy grin of his own.

"Well if we're all done comparing the size of our weapons." The Doctor said with a roll of his eyes and stepped through the door first. "Coming?" He turned back and smiled when both Winchesters followed.

The interior of the tower was as impressive as the exterior. The walls were lined in smooth, translucent crystal and gave off their own light. In the center was a round pool filled with sparkling water and a lithe tree grew impossibly narrow out of it and high up into the tower. Beyond the pool was the beginning of a spiral stair that wound up and up along the walls. Here and there as they looked they could see various beasts walking at different levels and some simply leaning out over the ramp wall to look down or up.

"This is amazing." Sam said softly, mouth curved into a smile. "It's unreal." It was and he was loathe to admit the difficulty he was having accepting that any of this was actually happening or here. Yet the sheer alienness of it all made him want to believe. This…splendor was something Lucifer had never given him in the Cage, never tried to use against him. _Until now…_ Sam shivered and stepped closer to his brother, refusing to believe the whisper.

"Damn." Dean said, awed as he looked about and up and to the equally awed face of the Doctor.

"This universe of yours certainly has some spectacle worth seeing." The Doctor said happily and clapped his hands together. "Up! I want to see the view from the top."

"Hope you brought your running shoes, Sammy." Dean nudged his shoulder. He didn't catch the pause before Sam chuckled or the nervous look before he followed their tour guide onto the ramp.

They passed the occasional Wolf and Leopard as they made their way higher in the tower, of all different colors and patterned coats. Neither of the boys had yet gotten over being among Lycanthropes that weren't feral, let alone ones who could speak as well as they did and had a society of their own. Dean found that the longer they were among them, with each polite nod of a canine head, he felt a small weight begin to lift from his shoulders. The universe wasn't just full of nothing but crap and monsters and hell and wars. There actually seemed to be at least one place in the universe where chaos didn't reign.

"What are Were's like on your Earth?" The Doctor asked as they walked, stretching three sets of long legs up the gentle ramps.

"Hungry." Dean said simply and with a grim smile.

"They're not aware of who they are." Sam told the Doctor with an eye roll at his brother. "When they turn, they're just animals with no memory and no control. All we can do is stop them."

"You mean you kill them?" The Doctor said and there was more than a note of disapproval in his voice. Sam bristled.

"They don't leave us a choice, Doctor." Sam stared off, seeing Madison's face for a moment. "If you think we do it easily…"

The Doctor rested a hand on Sam's shoulder for a moment and smiled. "No, no of course you don't." Killing was never something he managed easily but there were times, perhaps too many times through his long life when he could see no other choice. He watched the two men as they passed him and could see the stain of war and horrible loss on them as he did on himself. Sometimes there really was no other choice.

Dean ran a hand along the crystal wall, smiling as it caused a trail of rippling light as his fingers passed. "This is too cool." He said and grinned over at Sam. Even though he tensed each time one of the creatures would walk past them, he felt indefinably different and he almost remembered what it was like to be a kid. He glanced back and saw a similar childlike smile on the Doctor's face.

"Um…Dean?" Sam's voice turned him back around.

Ahead of them and in the center of the ramp, a lazy light was beginning to spiral in the air. It grew and expanded, a wind beginning to blow outward from it.

"What the hell is that?" Dean asked.

"At a guess…" The Doctor pulled his Sonic Screwdriver from his pocket and took a reading. "I'd say a god?" The readings were fascinating; far from some mystical apparition he was seeing definite signs of a directed transportation and grinned.

"You always smile like that when things start to go sideways?" Dean yelled over the now roaring wind. He ducked his head behind his arm to shield his eyes and saw Sam do the same. Above them on the ramp, several Wereleopards had gone to their knees, faces to the floor.

"Only when things get this interesting this fast!" The Doctor spared a look for him. "Which is fairly regularly with me."

The ball of light expanded, growing to several meters around, pressure built in the air in the hall. Dean took a step forward toward his brother when the pressure broke. It blew outward like a wave, crashing into him and threw him backwards. He saw Sam blown the other way in a tumble and grunted when the Doctor landed atop of himself.

"Holy crap!" Dean said in the sudden silence and heaved the Doctor off of him to the side.

"Oof." The Doctor thumped to the floor and sat up, shaking his head. "Wasn't expecting that!"

"Sam?" Dean crawled to his knees, rubbing his sore back and saw his brother sprawled further up on the ramp, head against the railing. "Sammy!" He lurched to his feet at a run and skidded to a stop. Where the ball of light had been born stood now an unnaturally tall figure with features both vaguely human and vaguely animal. She was coldly beautiful and translucent. Dean could see the bowing Wereleopards through her as they rose to their feet. Next time he'd remember to duck too. The calculating look in her eyes as she gazed briefly at him made his hands itch for his gun. He skirted her carefully and then ran to Sam and dropped beside him.

"Sam." Dean took his shoulders and rolled Sam over from where he lay face down. His head left a small crimson stain on the crystal as he lifted his brothers' shoulders into his arms. "Sammy?" he was unconscious, knocked cold by the impromptu impact. "Doctor! Get over here!" Dean called and rested a hand on Sam's neck, feeling the steady beat of his heart. "You gotta wake up, Sam." Dean told him. He'd spent way too much time lately seeing his little brother in this state it was wearing on him. He'd only just got him back after Cas imploded his brain. "You're a Doctor. Do something." Dean said as the Doctor knelt on Sam's other side.

"Not that kind of Doctor." He took one of Sam's boneless hands in his own. "He'll be fine, Dean. Just a knock to the head."

"No. No you don't understand." Dean held Sam close. "That's the last thing he needs right now." He looked down with such fear in his face the Doctor sighed in sympathy. "He only just woke up. Come on, Sammy. Come back."

The Doctor didn't understand of course but Dean's concern was clear and heartbreaking. He curved his hands on either side of Sam's face and closed his eyes. If head injury was this much of a worry then he could at least settle Dean's mind on that front. He allowed himself to drop into Sam's surface thoughts like a drop on a pond, following the currents.

Dean watched the crease on the Doctor's forehead deepen as he cradled Sam's face. His eyes blinked wide and he rocked back on his heels, staring down at Sam.

"You've had some cowboys in there, Sam." The Doctor said softly. The things he'd seen in his brief look, he was astonished the boy was even able to walk, let alone function, He'd found a level of suffering to rival his own.

"Doctor?" Dean asked, watching him closely.

The Doctor shook himself and smiled. "He's fine, Dean. Should wake up any moment. Just talk to him." He patted the older brother's shoulder as he stood. "Give him something to hold on to and he'll come back." There had been a shadow of a presence in Sam's mind; a memory with so much power it had made the Time Lord's skin crawl and that was not a feeling he was accustomed too. He turned his attention to the surprising being that had manifested and smiled. "Hello there."

"Hey, Sammy. You're missin' the fun here." Dean spoke firmly. "You gotta come back now. Nap time's over, little brother."

The Doctor strode in a circle around the 'god', observing her from every angle. It tweeked his nerves that her appearance had been damaging and that she seemed to show no concern for the unconscious boy. "I'm the Doctor. If you don't mind my asking…well even if you do, what exactly are you a god of?" She gazed down at him but said nothing. "Not very talkative are you?" The Doctor aimed his Sonic Screwdriver at her again. "See, 'gods' like you make my teeth itch with curiosity. It's a personal fault. What sort of 'god' needs a super powered transmit to materialize?" He smiled widely. "Or is that an impertinent question? I can never tell the difference."

"Guh." Sam groaned, blinking heavy eyes open. "Dean?"

"Hey, Tiger." Dean smiled. "You wanted a nap that bad you could have asked."

"What'd I miss?" Sam put a hand to his head and grimaced at the tacky sensation of drying blood.

"One of the gods. She made a hell of an entrance." Dean shifted, getting his arms under Sam's shoulders and pulled him up. Sam leaned heavily on him a moment while the floor swayed.

"How's your head?" Dean asked, nodding with relief when Sam's eyes finally steadied.

"Still there." Sam smiled and then caught sight of the god. "Whoa."

She seemed to hear him. She turned toward Sam's voice and floated slowly toward them, eyes intent.

"Uh…what…Doctor?" Sam backed up into Dean and his brother quickly stepped in front of him as she neared.

"No offense, but back off sister." Dean warned in his gravelly voice. He could see the Doctor behind her with some weird green flashlight humming away. She stopped so close Den could feel an odd energy prickling along his skin. He put an arm behind and backed Sam to the railing.

"I don't think she means any harm." The Doctor said and Dean snorted, keeping his place.

"You sure about that?" Sam asked, feeling a bit unnerved by the scrutiny.

"Well, to be fair, sure is a strong word." The Doctor reached a hand out toward the being, feeling the prickle of energy. "Reasonably somewhere in the vicinity of sure?"

She raised one ethereal arm, reaching past Dean's face toward his brother. Dean could feel Sam tremble once behind him and growled. "No way." He swept an arm up to knock hers away as the Doctor opened his mouth, raising a hand in warning as Dean's arm touched hers. The jolt traveled through his body from head to toes and back up again, stiffening him impossibly. He saw her eyes shift to meet his, felt his brother's arms come around his chest to catch him and then mercifully passed out.

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_To Be Continued..._


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

Dean was confused. His head felt fuzzy and his left arm felt numb. Is he alright? He heard Sam's voice and wanted to say he was fine. Got a bit of a shock he'll be fine. The Doctor's voice, it took him a second to process that. I don't think they're happy with us. Sam sounded nervous and that made him nervous. He could hear bodies moving around him and tried desperately to remember what had happened to him. I think you're right. This could get interesting. He remembered cold eyes and…and…he felt clawed hands wrapping around him. Werewolves! The thought screamed through the confusion in his head. They must have been attacked. He tried to fight his way free of them, felt himself struggling. There were low growls in his ears, a grunt as his knee connected with something. NO! Let him go! Just put him down! Sam's voice shouted and Dean felt himself laid back. He groaned and tried to make his eyes open. He needed to see what was happening, needed to protect Sam.

"That's it, Dean." Sam held his brother's shoulders, gave him a firm shake. He knew Dean was confused and didn't know what was happening. He needed to calm him. "Gotta open your eyes man." He watched Dean roll his head toward his voice and then finally a slit of green appeared. "Hey! Listen, you got zapped sort of and they're just trying to take you somewhere you can lay down, alright? Just stay calm." Sam waited until he got a weak nod. "I've got your back."

Sam stood and backed up a few steps beside the Doctor. This time when the Werewolves took Dean's arms to lift him he remained passive. His eyes were slitted open and stayed on Sam. "It's ok, Dean." Sam reassured him.

"Doesn't wake up nice, does he?" The Doctor said with a wry smile and Sam chuckled.

"Yeah, well trusting the monsters is kind of a new concept for us." He shot a wary glance at the 'god'. She was still hovering just down the ramp, eyes watching Sam still. They were surrounded by creatures now, wolves and leopards all of whom had reacted badly when Dean touched the shimmering woman.

"Now, let me do the talking here." The Doctor told him quietly as they followed the beasts carrying Dean between them. A door opened in the wall that had not been there before and they were flanked on all sides as they passed through. Inside was a spacious room with a wall completely open to the forest outside. They had walked higher than Sam thought. They were meters above the canopy of the forest here. Bright sunlight streamed in through drapes of sheer fabric and there were several long couches scattered about the room. Dean was laid out on of them by the Werewolves and Sam was instantly at his side as they stepped back.

The Doctor turned to look back at the door and the 'god' was there, easing into the room with Were's carefully staying out of her reach, each bowing their shaggy heads as she passed.

"It is forbidden to touch the Gods."

The Doctor turned back to the new Wereleopard that approached him. "Well to be fair she was the one trying to do the touching." He smiled. The leopard seemed not to appreciate his attempt at humor.

"You are visitors to our world. I am Shekir Grral. First Shekir of my people." He narrowed slit, golden pupils at the Time Lord. "Ignorance is not an excuse here. One does not lay hands on the Gods."

"Well, setting aside the question of what constitutes godhood, she tried to touch him first." He pointed at Sam. "His brother was only defending him and given the fact that he's currently flat on his back and shocked would seem to have been the right idea. You certainly can't hold us responsible if your pet deity got handsy."

The Shekir growled at him, a long low sound. 'The gods…are not pets! Show respect ape."

"For me this is respect." The Doctor grinned irreverently and heard an answering snort from Sam. "Also, not an Ape thank you. Those are the apes over there." He gestured toward the brothers.

"Sam?" Dean groaned and got his eyes open again. "Get my salt gun." He growled. "Bitch is goin' down."

"Easy, Dean." Sam smirked. "Guns are outside, remember? Besides, I don't think she meant it." He slid an arm under Dean's shoulders and slid him up against the back of the couch. "How's your arm?"

Dean scowled at his brother and then over at the ghostly looking 'god' before trying to move his left arm. It twitched but he still couldn't control it. "Startin' to get pins and needles. Why's she still staring at you?"

Sam had avoided looking back over at her and didn't now. "Not sure I want to know really. She creeps me out." He took Dean's left arm and started rubbing hard up and down from shoulder to wrist to help get the circulation going again. "We're in some kind of trouble though, I think."

"Think you're right." Dean took stock of the people…creatures in the room. Their body language all around was tense, except for the Doctor's. He just looked like he was having fun.

"Now. I'd like to get my friends back home so we'll just be on our way now the ape is awake." The Doctor made to step toward the brothers but the Shekir stepped in front of him.

"The God wants him." The leopard pointed to Sam. "She would see in his mind. It is her privilege."

"Excuse me? See into his mind? Privilege?" The Doctor waved an arm and shook his head. "Surely the boy has some say in the matter. He doesn't have to let her stomp around his brain if he doesn't want to."

"He will." The Shekir growled. "Or you will not leave until he does."

"Now just a minute." The Doctor protested but several wolves moved in around the men and he sighed.

"Gods do not wait." Grral told him and sure enough, the 'god' began to float across the room and toward the Winchesters. The Doctor dodged around one of the guards and put himself between the woman and Sam.

"Sam. Dean. I don't want you to panic." The Doctor turned and told them. "I'm not entirely sure what they want yet so don't escalate the situation." He nodded to the handful of large predators around them. "You'd lose." They both gave him tense nods and he turned back to the woman. "Now. You'll not lay a finger on the boy until I know exactly what it is you plan on doing. Trust me. You don't want to make me angry."

She looked at the Doctor, head tilting slowly to one side as her cold eyes narrowed. "What are you?" Her voice was soft, the words drawn out as though coming from a long distance.

"Excellent at interfering." The Doctor met her gaze steadily. "Also often underestimated. What do you want with him?"

She moved to see Sam around the Doctor and then looked back at him, calculating. "I wish to touch his mind. All those who step within the tower of the gods make offer of their thoughts to us. It is known."

"Well it sure as hell wasn't known to us." Dean growled and swung his legs off the couch, shaking the pins and needles from his arm beside Sam.

"Irrelevant." She breathed. "It is known. I will touch his thoughts." She seemed to consider for a moment. "He will not be…damaged. None are damaged by our touch."

"My ass." Dean snorted. "What do you call this?" He pointed at his arm. "You think it's not gonna damage him when you touch his freakin head? Aint happenin' lady."

"He makes a good point." The Doctor moved to block her view again. "The static discharge from your current form could injure him."

"That was…unintentional." She looked about to the other Were's as if seeking insight, unaccustomed to being questioned. "It will not happen when I touch him." She moved again, floating to the side of the Doctor. He shifted to step in front of her again and was grabbed from behind and held.

"Do not interfere." The Shekir put a powerful, clawed hand on his shoulder. "It will not take long."

Sam shot to his feet, his brother beside him and backed away. More of the wolves closed on them. It was a quick, dirty fight that ended with both men held securely in clawed hands. The Werewolves were actually very careful not to injure either of them despite three of their own now rolling on the floor in pain.

"Doctor?" Sam asked, fear lacing his voice as she closed on him, one arm outstretched.

"Sam just don't fight it." The Doctor warned, resigned and worried. "She's going to touch your thoughts. Let her. If you fight you'll just make it more unpleasant."

Dean lunged in his captor's grip. "Son of a bitch! Don't you touch him!" The claws tightened and a furred arm went round his neck to hold him more securely.

Sam shrank back from her hand, feeling static begin to raise the hair on his head. "No. Don't do this. Please." He really did not want some freaky alien ghost inside his mind. It was fractured he knew and after Lucifer and Death and the hallucinations he couldn't find any way to stay calm about having someone else rummaging around in there.

"Stay calm, Sam." The Doctor said firmly to him. "Don't panic and don't fight." The boys mind was a jumbled mess, that much the Doctor was aware of from his brief look. Sam's face now was a study of apprehension and, as the Doctor watched, his eyes shifted to his left as though seeing something that wasn't there.

Sam shoved his head as far back as he could against the large hand that tried to hold him still. He heard a low chuckle that made his stomach churn in terror and turned to look but there was nothing there. Her hand found his face, translucent fingers curved around his cheek, slid into his hair and the static charge built. It rolled his eyes back into his head and he felt his whole body stiffen as something slid into his thoughts. She was there, the image of her behind his eyes. She sifted through his surface thoughts, uninterested in the fear and confusion and she dug deeper, latching on to his memories. She pulled them out randomly, images from his time in the cage, sounds, smells. For a moment, his own screams remembered filled his mind then the memory of pain burned along his skin making him wish he could scream then but his body was not obeying him. He felt her curiosity at the memories and coupled with it was a sick sort of pleasure at the strength of the feelings she was evoking. She was feeding. He was certain of it. Like a leech she was siphoning his fear and pain into herself. She was feeling pleasure. It slid through him, an oily sensation that she was feeding on him and he screamed silently in protest. He wanted her out. Sam tried to push her out. He pulled every ounce of self he had and shoved it at her. He felt the connection break, felt her slide away from his mind as his body became his own again and he collapsed.

"Sammy!" Dean shouted as the god removed her hand from his brothers face and backed away. The look on her face was one he usually equated with a good time but Sam's was all he needed to know the pleasure had been all one sided. "You bastards let me go!" He wrenched his arms and they let him loose to stumble forward. He punched one of the wolves holding Sam and took his brother from their hands. "Get off him." The creatures' eyes widened, understanding the dangerous look in Dean's eyes and they backed away from him.

Sam was awake, just boneless. He could feel pins and needles beginning to run through him from head to toe and his head felt as though someone had scrambled eggs in it. He knew when Dean's arms came around him and pulled him back. He felt himself lowered to a soft surface and groaned when Dean pried one of his eyes open.

"You in there, little brother?" Dean peered at the sluggish hazel eye and got a nod in response. The Doctor knelt beside them. Dean glanced up and for a moment was sure he'd seen fury on his face before it smoothed into his customary genial smile. "What the hell is goin' on?"

"Nothing good. Sam?" The Doctor placed a hand on his shoulder and waited for exhausted eyes to meet his. He smiled. "You're going to be alright. You both will. I promise."

"I think we'd like to go the hell home now." Dean said fiercely.

"Feeding." Sam said suddenly and shivered. Dean sat him up and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"What was that, Sam?" The Doctor frowned.

"She was…feeding." Sam told them. "I was…food." He glared up at the 'god'. The Doctor turned a glare of his own at the Weres around them. He patted Sam's shoulder.

"Well this is just the sort of thing I can never leave alone. Creatures pretending to be gods and feeding on the less advanced." He stood. "That never ends well. Shekir Grral!" The Doctor called to the Leopard where he stood beside his god, staring up at her with a smile.

"The god is happy." Shekir Grral said softly.

"Not for long." The Doctor murmured, if he had anything to do with it. "I think it's about time you left us alone. My friends need to…recuperate and you've certainly gotten what you wanted." Inwardly he was furious. Psychic vampires were a particular pet peeve of his. He'd been victimized by more than his fair share in various forms through his life. He felt responsible for what had happened. He had brought them here, inadvertent though it was. He understood now why the TARDIS had chosen this place on this planet.

"We will leave you." The Shekir nodded his head slightly. "You may stay or leave as you wish. Welcome to the Tower of Gleddon."

The Doctor heard Dean mutter something uncomplimentary under his breath as Wereleopards and wolves filed from the room. The 'god' left last with a look at Sam before she floated to the door and out of sight.

"How are you feeling, Sam?" The Doctor asked, kneeling beside them again.

"Tired." Sam shrugged. "I'm fine." He said with his eyes on his brother.

"You don't look fine, kid." Dean shook his head. "You get any paler we'll be able to see through you." He was in a rage but years of practice helped him to shove it down, tuck it away until he needed it. Dean had every intention of finding a way to use it on something here before they left. He'd had enough of gods preying on them, on any planet.

"I want to see what's in the top of this tower." The Doctor told them, smiling when their eyes widening in incredulity. "I think we should see what's up there."

Sam looked into his eyes and then smiled slowly. He met Dean's eyes who looked ready to argue. "He's got the same idea you do, Dean. You want to go to the top of tower."

"Huh?" Dean looked between them.

"You wanna stop their gods." Sam said surely. "So does he."

"I do appreciate perceptive humans, I really do." The Doctor remarked with a grin, a mischievous look in his eyes. "Let's go see how much trouble we can cause. Come along Winchesters."

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_To be continued…_


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

The Doctor led the way further up the tower. Dean and Sam lagged a little behind taking turns steadying each other when a wave of dizziness would strike. It would have been comic, Sam thought, if not for the tense postures and alert eyes on watch for the appearance of another 'god'. The higher they rose, the fewer Were's they encountered. The unusual tree that rose through the center of the tower spread its limbs out finally. Delicate branches like vines extended and curled onto the walkway, brushing deep crimson leaves the size of dinner plates against them as they walked.

"Wish I had a camera." Sam said softly, brushing a hand through a cluster of leaves. They shimmered gently at his touch. "Kind of hard to be pissed at a place this beautiful."

Dean chuckled, ducking beneath a branch. "Trust you to still see the good."

"Why do you suppose the Werewolves back home are all feral?" Sam asked, looking first at Dean and then the Doctor's back.

"Different evolution of similar organisms." The Doctor replied and plucked a leaf from one of limbs. "If I had to guess, I'd say the Weres on your world are much less evolved. Give them a few more millennia and maybe…" He gestured out at the tower but Dean shook his head.

"Won't happen. Hunters got no choice but to gank 'em." Dean said grimly. "Eventually, someone's gonna wipe them out."

The Doctor frowned, very unhappy with that pronouncement even though he understood Dean was only speaking the harsh truth of their particular Earth. It was a very different Earth he had found, more vicious he thought. Although the concept of Hunters, mere humans who trained and studied and threw themselves at the unexplained and the deadly every day to save others impressed him. The full force of what the brothers and those like them did had stunned him when he'd seen it in Sam's mind. It was terrifying and heroic and, like the Doctor, they were rarely thanked or even seen no matter how many lives they saved and they had saved their entire world twice over.

"This looks like it!" The Doctor said cheerfully as they reached the top and a tall, arched door greeted them. It was half hidden by leafy branches. Lettering glowed faintly on its surface. The Doctor pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver and scanned the door.

"What is that thing?" Sam asked, peering over his shoulder at the device.

"Lock pick." The Doctor said with a smirk. "Huh." He looked perplexed. "There's no locking mechanism."

"Saves us having to break in then." Dean grinned but the Time Lord shook his head.

"No opening mechanism either." He changed settings and tried the door again. "Oh very clever." A last adjustment as his screwdriver hummed and the door hissed slowly open. "It's keyed to the vibrational frequency of their 'gods'. So…the Weres aren't allowed up here."

"So they didn't build this thing." Dean surmised and looked through the door. Stairs quickly turned out of sight. He stopped the Doctor with a hand on his shoulder. "Hang on. Suppose there's more of those things up there? We need a way to fight them."

"Already taken care of." The Doctor held up his screwdriver. "Opens locks. Banishes false gods. I can use it to disrupt the wavelength that allows them to be here. Should send them packing."

"Should?" Sam looked over at the screwdriver. "Hope you're right cause I do NOT wanna be lunch again."

"I won't let that happen." The Doctor said, making eye contact to reinforce his promise to them both. "Trust me. I'm the Doctor." He smiled then and stepped onto the stairs, screwdriver held before him.

_**_**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-** _ ** _

The top of the tower was as surprising as the rest had been. The 'walls' were glass paneled windows that wrapped all the way around. A low, round table ran all the way around beneath the windows. Spaced at regular intervals were seedlings. It was easy to identify them as the same tree growing up through the center of the tower. In the center was some sort of sophisticated console that made the Doctor almost hum with excitement.

"Oh you beauty!" He ran his hands along its panels. "Destroying you is going to be a crime! And a pleasure."

"What the hell is it?" Dean rapped his knuckles against the metal and the Doctor grinned.

"The answer to everything." He turned about, taking in the whole room with an appraising eye. "These gods of theirs are like me; from a different dimension. All of this is to allow them to manifest here and feed." He dashed to one of the saplings, scanning it with the Sonic Screwdriver and then ran back to the console. "Clever. Very clever. The tree down there is part of the whole thing."

Sam picked up one of the saplings, watching its tiny leaves shimmer in the sun. "What's the tree have to do with this?"

"Everything!" The Doctor took it from him. "This is the anchor! Well, when its grown it will be. The tree gives off a very specific frequency. The console picks up the resonance, magnifies it and follows it through the vortex creating a conduit and if you happen to be a form of energetic life it's like a…"

"Supernatural highway." Dean said irreverently and the Doctor smirked.

"Exactly! Well actually no, not even close but as a rudimentary understanding of the concept it will do." He ran his screwdriver over the console. "All I have to do be very clever, which I am, and find a way to disrupt the transmission."

"We break this and those ghost vamps can't come through anymore, right?" Sam asked.

The Doctor nodded. "Not sure how the natives are going to take it."

"Why not just smash the thing?" Dean grinned. "Simple works."

"It would, yes but only temporarily." The Doctor smiled. "I want to make sure the inter-dimensional compass gets well and truly scrambled."

"Better hurry up then." Dean cocked his head to the side. "I hear voices down there."

"Try to hold them off without getting violent?" The Doctor said, smiled and turned to get to work.

"No promises. Sam. Weapons?" Dean pointed to the narrow sections of table and he nodded. Together they emptied a section and with a series of powerful kicks, had themselves a couple effective clubs. They waited to either side at the top of the stairs. The voices were growing louder; some confused, some angry.

"Just knock 'em back down." Dean ordered. "We won't win in a fair fight without silver."

"Got it." Sam hefted his club, face determined while the Doctor worked on the console, talking to it…or himself all the while.

The first furred head and Sam swung with a practiced effort. The Wolf's head toppled out of view with a sharp cry.

"Nice hit, Sammy!" Dean grinned took his own swing as the next head, a leopard rose up and was as quickly knocked from view. "Oh a two-fer!" He chuckled as the leopard went backward and knocked the one behind him down the stairs.

"Hurry up, Doctor!" Sam called. He could hear more voices below and two small points of light began to coalesce on the far side of the room as a breeze lifted his hair.

"Almost there." The Doctor scowled at the console. He'd gotten a panel off and had one arm in up to the elbow, yanking wiring and roots from the tree below to find what he needed. "Don't…be difficult." He warned the thing and pulled his arm out, this time grinning. "Gotcha!"

Shouts whipped his head around and he saw things were quickly about to spiral out of control. Several wolves and leopards leaped impossibly from the stairs. Sam and Dean had no warning and were tackled to the floor in a tangle of limbs and claws. Both men shouted in pain.

"Stop!" The growling bellow came from below and the Weres froze. The leopard pinning Sam literally stopped with the boys bleeding arm in his mouth. Shekir Grral appeared and walked quickly up, his feline eyes taking in everything. "Do not kill them!" He ordered. Grral scowled at the Wereleopard above Sam. "You have spilled blood in the Tower of Gleddon." Sam's arm fell from his now open jaws and the cat belly crawled to the Shekir. "Go from this place. Return to your pride." His voice was severe and the leopard cowered before slinking to the stairs and out of sight.

"Get off me! Sam!" Dean was pinned beneath two wolves, each needing all their weight to keep him down. The Doctor marveled at the strength fear for his brother was giving him as he slightly raised the two muscled and furred bodies above him.

"Doctor." The Shekir hissed. "You should not be here. None but the gods are…" His voice trailed off as his eyes found the row of saplings beneath the windows. The great shaggy cat strode quickly to them. He picked one up in incredibly gentle claws and stared.

"Something wrong?" The Doctor asked though, like Dean, his eyes were on the growing pool of blood beneath Sam's arm. He hoped he was hiding the rage better than Dean whose face was burning with it.

"This should not be." Grral said softly. He turned back with the sapling cradled in his hands. "None may cut the sacred tree yet these…"

"Cut when you weren't looking." The Doctor told him. "The beings posing as your gods want more of them. They want more towers just like this one."

"But why?" The Shekir asked. "I do not understand."

"They're psychic vampires. Each time they touch the mind of someone, they feed."

"You're cattle!" Dean shouted angrily from the floor. "They're using you for snack food, Jackass! Let me UP!" He pushed again at the impenetrable fur chests holding him down.

"Please." The Doctor pointed to Sam. "Let his brother stop the bleeding."

The Shekir nodded and growled at the two wolves. They rolled off of Dean, wisely moving out of range. Dean surged to his feet and stalked to Sam. "GET the hell off him!" He told the Leopard still pinning his brother. "I will end you."

The leopard seemed to realize Dean meant it, slitted eyes widening in fear and he moved quickly away. Dean knelt next to his little brother, relieved to see him looking up at him. His eyes were glassy but alert. "How you doin'?" Dean turned his arm carefully. Sam had his teeth gritted against the pain and just nodded.

"Dean?" The Doctor asked, concern clear in his voice.

"He'll be fine." Dean stripped off his jacket then his outer shirt. He folded it up and wrapped it tightly around Sam's torn forearm. "Gonna need some stitches, buddy. Getting' tired of sewin' you up lately." He smiled even as he winced at the soft moan that escaped his brother.

"Up." Sam managed between clenched teeth. Nausea was rolling his stomach. "Help me…sit up."

"Ok, hang on." Dean put the hastily bandaged arm across his chest and gently lifted him so Sam was resting against his chest. "Better?" Sam nodded and cradled his arm.

"Dean." Sam shivered from blood loss. "Dean it bit me."

Dean's face blanched, the realization rocking through him. A werewolf's bite was a sure way to become infected. He'd never seen a wereleopard before but had to assume it would work the same way. "It'll be ok, Sammy. We'll figure it out." Sam nodded against his chest but inside the floor had dropped out from him. Dean was going to have to kill him if…when he turned.

Wind began to blow through the tower room. Two balls of light were growing, a static charge building in the air. Dean got both arms around Sam and waited, hoping they were low enough not to be thrown this time. The lights expanded and, as before, a great gust of wind pushed outward. The remaining Weres had bent low to the floor and the Doctor crouched behind the console. Dean managed to keep Sam and himself still against the gust. The wind dissipated and two of the ethereal beings floated together. The Doctor could see anger in their eyes and he smiled.

"Be gone from here." The male and taller of the two 'gods' spoke. His voice bit out making the leopards and wolves flinch.

"Oh I don't think so." The Doctor stepped toward them and waved. "Hello! Nice to meet you well…no not really but I am trying. Now I think the Shekir has questions for you. Don't mind me, I'll just be over here interfering." The Doctor stepped back to the condole as the Shekir came forward, Sapling held out in his hands.

"You have cut the sacred tree." He said in his gravelly voice. "You are our gods! Why would you do this?"

The beings glanced at each other and eyed the big cat with disdain. "We are your gods. We do as we wish." The woman said.

"And we wish to build more tower all across this world." The man added with a cold smile.

"Planet wide buffet, is that it?" The Doctor said angrily. "I wonder, how many of them have you killed? Fed them to death because I know creatures like you and frankly, you all have a bit of an overeating problem."

"Irrelevant." The man raised an airy hand. "We are gods and…"

"Yes, yes." The Doctor turned his back on them and took two wires from the console. "I think it's about time someone sent you lot packing back to your own dimension." They're eyes widened and he grinned. "Yes, I know what you are." A wing began to pick up, lights winking into being all over the twoer. Soon there would be a dozen of them. The 'gods' moved farther into the room, reaching for the Doctor. "Not today." He raised his Sonic Screwdriver and set it humming. There was a loud pop and both beings were sucked out of the room. "Much better." He took the wires from the console and quickly started making new connections. The wind picked up, the dozen new lights growing in size.

"Doctor?" Dean called as three of them grew dangerously close to him and Sam.

"Got it!" The Doctor shouted over the wind. The console hummed, building into a whine and light burst forth, filling the room.

Dean closed his eyes against the glare. When he opened them again all the lights were gone.

"That should sort them." The Doctor dusted his hands off and looked around happily. "I've sent them back to their own dimension. Shouldn't have any more fake deities on your doorstep."

The Shekir stared at the Doctor and then shook his head. "There will be chaos." He looked down to the sapling in his hands and smiled. "But that is good. They were not gods, were they?"

"No. Sorry." The Doctor patted his furred shoulder in awkward sympathy. "Just hungry inter-dimensional phantoms with delusions of divinity. They took advantage of your people because they could."

"Doctor." Dean called him. Sam was shivering more violently. The shirt Dean had wrapped round his arm was saturated with blood and he was barely conscious. "We gotta get him home. Now."

"Sam, you are one of the most jeopardy friendly companions I've had in a long time." The Doctor smiled kindly down at the boy.

"Wait." Shekir Grral strode to them and knelt. "Honor demands we fix what we can. Blood has been spilt in our Tower. Remove the bindings." He told Dean.

"He'll bleed out." Dean argued, eyes angry on the big cat.

The Doctor watched as Grral reverently removed the newly budded leaves from the sapling and smiled. "It's alright, Dean." He gently picked up Sam's wounded arm and began unwrapping Dean's unfortunate shirt. "Trust me. It's going to be alright." He grimaced at the sight o the long angry tears in Sam's flesh. Sam made little protest. He was pale and his eyes fluttering on the edge of oblivion.

"This will hurt but will heal all." Grral told the men. He placed the leaves in his mouth, chewing quickly and then dropped them back into his hand.

"Ewww. Good thing Sam's out for this." Dean groaned as the Shekir spread the red paste onto Sam's arm and into the wounds.

"Ahh!" Sam shouted, back arching and hand scrabbling for purchase. Dean wrapped his arms around his brother's shoulder and held him tight.

"Hang on buddy. Sam!" Dean worked to get his attention. "It's ok, hold still."

Sam was reduced to panting through gritted teeth. "Ok…I'm okay." The burning was receding slowly until he was able finally to open his eyes. "What the hell?"

The Shekir took Sam's arm in his hand and scraped the paste carefully away. Beneath lay undamaged skin, leaving both Winchesters gaping in astonishment.

"Transitive healing properties on the macrobiotic level." The Doctor grinned at the big cat. "Your sacred tree is just full of surprises."

"How you feel?" Dean asked as Sam shifted against him and sat up.

"I feel…I feel good." Sam ghosted his fingers over the now healed skin. "I seriously wish those trees grew back home."

"What? And ruin all the fun I have stitching you back up?" Dean laughed at his brother's bitch face and stood, pulling Sam up with him.

"Thank you." Sam nodded gratefully to the Shekir.

"Thank you, Apes." Grral rose and bowed to them. "Will you stay and enjoy our hospitality?"

"Ah…no. I think we should be on our way." The Doctor grabbed a clawed hand and shook it vigorously.

"Yeah, time to go home, eh Sammy?" Dean bumped his shoulder and Sam nodded with a tired smile.

"Bobby's gonna wonder what happened to us." Sam followed Dean to the stairs so neither man saw the satisfied smirk on the Doctor's face. The walk down the tower was far less eventful than the walk up. The three men stepped outside and were greeted by the same two guards. The werewolf looked angry and disgusted while the leopard was clearly amused.

"Surprised to see us?" Dean grinned and bent to collect his weapons, still laying where they had left them. The wolf grunted and reached a clawed hand into a pouch at his side. The leopard held out his hand and the wolf wordlessly dropped a handful of coins into it.

Sam snorted and then burst out laughing. "You bet we wouldn't come back out?" The wolf nodded.

Dean chuckled, sliding his Desert Eagle back to it's home. "Big mistake." He grinned up at the wolf. "Never bet against a Winchester. We always beat the odds."

"Come along, Winchesters." The Doctor waved an arm and led them into the wood once more. It seemed to take no time at all to reach the TARDIS. Sam smiled when the insane blue box came into sight on the hill.

"She has that effect." The Doctor said suddenly and made Sam blush. He strode ahead of them, up the hill and had the door open and waiting for them. Once in the console room the Doctor went into a flurry of activity and they were shortly traveling to the sound of the rumbling machine.

"Oh Sam?" The Doctor took his arm and pulled him over to see the screen. "I did a scan. You're clear of the lycanthropy virus."

Sam gaped. "You're sure?"

"What? Of course I'm sure! I'm a Doctor!"

"Thought you weren't that sort of Doctor." Dean observed with a smirk and slapped Sam's shoulder in relief.

"Well maybe only sometimes." The Doctor grinned and busied himself around the console in a flurry of activity while the brother's watched. He had seen the raw fear on both their faces but it was the crushing grief in Dean's eyes, grappling with the thought of having to kill Sam that had spurred him to act. Sam _had_ been infected. The lycanthropy virus was already attacking his system in force when they reached the TARDIS. That was unacceptable. He had promised to get them both home and still human. Thankfully, the TARDIS databanks were used to strange illness diagnoses and the TARDIS herself…well, that little wereleopard virus was easy pickings for her and neither brother had noticed the added tang to the air as the cure was vented through the control room.

"Now then!" The Doctor clapped his hands. "Scale of one to eleven, one being the absolute worst, dodgiest excuse for holiday ever and eleven being, well…simply brilliant." He grinned at his own pun. "How was it?"

"Not including the minor concussions, ghost vampires and my brother being used as a chewtoy?" Dean scowled until the Doctor's face fell. Sam knew what was coming but kept silent. "That was awesome!" Dean broke into a huge grin, Sam laughing beside him.

"Well that was uncalled for." The Doctor chuckled at being caught out. "Sam?"

"I wouldn't have missed it!" Sam ran a gentle hand along the console with a content smiled as the time rotor came to a stop. "We're home?"

"That we are! Out you go." The Doctor waved his arms and ran to open the door for them. "One round trip as promised."

Sam and Dean stepped out into the cold night air, breath fogging in front of them and Dean frowned, staring at the ruined trees across from them.

"Why are the trees still smoking?" He asked. "We've been gone almost a day!"

"Five minutes." The Doctor rubbed his knuckles along his jacket and straightened his bowtie with a satisfied smile. "I've brought you back precisely five minutes after we left. Time machine. Remember?"

"Holy crap!" Dean breathed and then smiled. "Come on, Doc. Lemme show you _my_ Baby."

Sam rolled his eyes good naturedly and followed behind them as they nattered back and forth about engines and speed and reliability…or lack thereof. The Doctor made an appropriate noise of admiration as the Impala came insight and practically danced down and over the drainage ditch. "Oh my…I am so sorry!" He looked in horror at the canted car.

"Aw she's fine." Dean slid behind the wheel and Sam pulled the Doctor safely away.

"He'll have her out in no time." Sam smiled. "Just stand here." He went and knelt, two hands under the front fender and knees braced. Dean gunned the engine and with Sam rocking the front, he coaxed the Chevy back up onto the road.

"That's mah baby." Dean got out and did something he rarely did, watching Sam's eyes go wide. He gestured to the driver's seat. "You can take her for a spin if you promise to be gentle."

The Doctor grinned and slid behind the wheel onto the bench seat, leaving the door open. The seat was comfortable, the wheel vibrating eagerly in his hands as the engine growled. He raised his brows in surprise and got back out.

"She's a remarkable vehicle." The Doctor ran an appreciative hand along the hood. He'd felt a distinct presence in the car, not unlike the TARDIS though it was rudimentary in comparison. She knew he wasn't a Winchester and wasn't comfortable with him behind the wheel. "Think I'll leave the driving to you."

"Suit yourself." Dean smiled and grabbed the Doctor's hand, giving it a shake. "Thanks, Doc."

The Doctor returned the strong grip. "My pleasure." He sighed. "Shame I have to leave so soon."

"You can't stay?" Sam asked, coming to stand beside him.

"Ah, no. I really do need to plug the hole I made." The Doctor smiled ruefully. "I suppose I shouldn't have but I've never been good about words like shouldn't."

Sam smirked. "I've noticed."

"Now boys." The Doctor impulsively caught each of them with an arm across their shoulders. "Try to remember there's always hope out in the universe somewhere, no matter how bad things seem."

Dean stiffened though he tried to relax again. "Maybe, Doc but here's all we got." He looked up into the cold, starry sky. "And here's pretty screwed up." Reality crashed back into him; Cas, Leviathans, the end of the freakin world again and his little brother the closed book with the broken head. There was no hope for them but it had been nice to forget for a while.

"We appreciate it, Doctor." Sam said with a sincere smile, trying to alleviate the sorrow on his face. "Is there any way we can thank you for…for god that was amazing."

The Doctor chuckled, letting Dean slip away behind the wheel and clapped Sam on the shoulder. He caught the boys eyes. "Fight, Sam. Don't stop fighting." Sam's eyes widened in surprise. "That's what you can do. Don't give in." The Doctor reinforced the words through his hand on the back of Sam's neck without him knowing. Technically it was a breach to subtly interfere with the future but it wasn't his universe and he'd become rather fond of the Winchesters in their short time together. "No thanks needed, Sam." The Doctor grinned and stepped back.

"Well thank you." Sam raised a hand and got into the passenger side of the Impala. The Doctor watched them go, the car rumbling into motion and streaming off into the night, black against black.

"Come along, Winchesters." The Doctor said softly, sadly. "The battle's just starting for you." He watched until the car vanished around a turn and hopped across the ditch, striding back into the woods and back to his own 'baby'.

"Now then." He petted a hand along her exterior. "I suppose we should get back to our own universe before something eats us." He took a last look out into the night then stepped inside and closed the door. The familiar wheezing filled the clearing as the blue police box once more faded into the air and left that particular universe to its own more than qualified guardians, speeding toward their own destiny.

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_The end_


End file.
